PROJECT 06 Report & Recommendations

The hot summer of 2006 was a great occasion in Galway’s artistic life: for the first time in many years a spirit of openness permeated the artistic community and the spaces of the city, both public and private, filled up with sounds of great shows and enthusiastic audiences. This event, or series of events, was entitled Project 06 and we believe that it was immensly important and hugely enriching.

Although founded out of a frustration with the Galway Arts Festival, Project 06 did not set out to be a rival or an alternative festival in Galway. The aim of Project 06 was to show that a whole range of new shows, new artists and new types of performance could be incorporated into the festival. The artists of Project 06 never sought to restrict or replace the existing Arts Festival programme but to add a whole extra dimension to it.

We have set down to write this report as a memoir of a beautiful summer, as a final statement of why Project 06 was undertaken and out of a wish to inspire others in Galway and beyond of the innate possibilities of artistic expression which we believe should be reflected and facilitated by our publicly funded arts organisations, none more so than by a festival which aims to be “the defining cultural expression of Galway”.

Project 06 was not just about organising a festival of arts events. One of the primary aims of Project 06 was to engage in dialogue with the Galway Arts Festival; to articulate the problems that Galway artists and the general community had with the festival and to present ideas and practical suggestions that would restore a good relationship between the artistic community in Galway and the Arts Festival.

This Report concludes with three recommendations which we hope will strengthen and enliven the Galway Arts Festival in years to come. Our central recommendation is that as part of the celebrations to mark the 30th Galway Arts Festival in 2007, that the Artistic Director, Paul Fahy, includes a Project 06 type module into the main Festival programme.

Both Project 06 and Galway Arts Festival have the same basic aims – the promotion of the Arts in Galway. Both groups can mutually help each other and we urge the Galway Arts Festival to accept the Bona Fides of Project 06 and to engage with Project 06 to resolve the various issues that surfaced.